Should you sell your crafts? Maybe you are an avid crafter who loves making things in your spare time, but it is just a hobby. You may wonder if you should sell your crafts. Here, I will give you food for thought. This is just my personal opinion. It may not be right for you. There are many viewpoints and pros and cons to selling your crafts. Ultimately, you will need to decide for yourself if selling your crafts is right for you.

Points to ponder:

• If the thought of selling your crafts has never crossed your mind, then you are probably content making your crafts for your own personal hobby and past time. Making crafts is what you enjoy doing and there is no need to make it any more complex than that.

• If the thought of selling your crafts will detract from the simple joys you have in crafting, then selling your crafts is probably not right for you. In this scenario, selling your crafts will be a chore and make crafting more like work or a job.

• If you are reading this article, then maybe the thought of selling your crafts has crossed your mind. You may be at the stage where you wonder if you could make a little money with the crafts that you make. You wonder if your crafts might even sell. Selling your crafts might help to support your crafting hobby. But you don’t know where to even start.

• I crafted for years since I was a little girl. I learned to crochet in the 4th grade at the YWCA. I learned to sew in the 8th grade. Since then, I enjoyed making gifts for my family and friends and even made my own clothing to wear. Sewing and crocheting was economical because back then, yarn and fabric was relatively inexpensive. The thought never crossed my mind to sell any of my crafts. It was just something I did as a hobby.

• So when did I start selling my crafts? Or even begin thinking about it? Years later, something called social media appeared. I started posting my crafts for others to see. Lo and behold, people wanted to purchase what I was making. Then, I began making things and people were paying money for it. I had orders. I began making more and more things. Then, my children’s school was having a winter craft fair fundraiser. I decided to sign up as a vendor. I didn’t know what to expect or even if any of my stuff would sell. Thoughts crossed my mind—would I be able to make enough things to sell? Well, the craft fair day came. Long story short, it was a huge success! Next, I searched for online places to sell my crafts. I found this website called Etsy and researched about it. It was relatively easy to start up my own Etsy Shop! Oh boy! I opened shop back in 2014 with meager listings. A year went by, and I had not a single sale. Then, the next year, I was determined to build up my Etsy Shop. I learned about something called SEO. Then I learned how to use it to my advantage. Within a few months, I had my first sale! I was ecstatic! That first sale led to more sales, and more sales, and more sales! Today, I have made over 11,000 sales and am a repeat Star Seller! Www.GiftsByKarenM.Etsy.Com has become highly successful! I don’t take any credit for my success though. I am thankful to my loyal customers, family and friends for their support, and to my awesome God and Jesus, my Lord and Savior for the many blessings bestowed on my life.

• So, should you sell your crafts? If you are interested, first see if you can make your crafts as gifts. See if people genuinely like your crafts. See if any friends or family might purchase your crafts as gifts. Start off small. Sign up for a relatively small craft fair. Don’t go all out making 1000s of crafts (and ultimately spending a lot of money) until you can see if your few crafts sell. Build little by little. If at first your crafts don’t sell, don’t give up. Get feedback from people. Feedback helps you to tweak your designs. What you enjoy making and think is nice is not always what others like. Different venues and clientele also vary in craft likes and dislikes. Find out your strengths and weaknesses. Give selling your crafts a try.

• If all else fails, and you are unable to sell your crafts, then stick to it as a hobby! You will still enjoy it and there are many benefits of crafting—to name a few—stress relief, positive self esteem in creating something, it keeps your brain active, develops finger and fine motor dexterity, and it develops your creativity, a higher order thinking skill that uses more of your brain.

• I hope this article gives you some insight and that it helped a little. Thanks for reading!